Ray Allen offers a belated congratulations to Paul Pierce

While Rajon Rondo, Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett got chummy in the stands supporting Paul Pierce on Sunday as Boston retired his jersey, Ray Allen was conspicuously absent for his ex-teammate’s ceremony. Allen, who appears to have gone golfing with George Lopez instead, posted a belated congratulatory note to Pierce on Tuesday evening.

“Paul Pierce is the first guy that welcomed Kevin (Garnett) and me with open arms into his atmosphere from day one and we never looked back. Paul and I have spoken about our time together as teammates- going to battle night after night knowing we could count on one another and we have also talked about my decision to leave during free agency- a choice I made for my family,” wrote Allen. Despite what you may have heard or read or what is rumored- there is nothing but love.

“Paul and I are more interested in building bridges than putting up walls. To Paul, number 34, Congratulations on having your number raised up to the rafters. I salute you for your commitment to the city of Boston and to us the 2008 NBA Champions #thetruth”

“What we did in 2008 was special. Not only by Boston standards but by professional sports standards. The truth is, without any one of us on that team we would’ve never been able to do the unthinkable. Going from last place in one year to winning a championship is unfathomable. But, we did it!”

“Over the last few years I have been berated, lambasted and had my name smeared. You may not want to hear this, but I will always be a Celtic. (Fact). I will always cherish the bonds that I shared with all of my teammates and the people in the city of Boston. (Truth). We all gave everything we had. We all won and we all raised the 2008 NBA Championship banner together. (Ubuntu)”

The NBA’s reigning career leader in 3-pointers made was an integral piece of the Celtics 2008 championship team, but has been estranged from his teammates since leaving Boston in free agency after a seven-game series against Miami in 2012 and joining their foils on South Beach.

Former Boston Celtics Paul Pierce address the crowd during a ceremony to retire his number following an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Boston, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Allen, who’d already been benched for Avery Bradley during his final season in Boston, butted heads most often with Rondo. Their relationship has been fraught since the beginning and Rondo added another dig at Allen by wavering on inviting him to a 10-year anniversary celebration of their title season.

Incidentally, when Rivers checked out two years later to coach the Lob City Clippers, those same standards didn’t apply. Last summer, Pierce and Allen appeared to have reconciled. Despite the conciliatory tone of Allen’s post, it begs the question, what happened to remind him 48 hours later?

Was he browsing his Facebook feed and came across a Celtics reunion photo album? Did he forget to check his text messages? It would have been quicker to send him a person message via carrier pigeon. Perhaps it had something to do with Pierce expressing more disappointment about Tony Allen’s absence than Ray’s.

At times, it’s difficult to see how they were able to last as long as they did together. As iconic as the ’08 Celtics were, they were among the most cantankerous title teams in recent history and it extended beyond their own locker room. Garnett is still bitter towards Allen and Rondo has been a malcontent with every franchise he’s played with since then. A decade later, Pierce and Rondo were taking petty shots at Isaiah Thomas. Allen may say all the right things, but until he’s in the same room as his Celtics teammate,his words are empty.